Electric switch



Patented Sept. 2.5, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FARNUM F. DORSEY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO NORTH EAST ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEWYORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

Application led January 4, 1924.l Serial 110.684.386.

This invention relates to small "hand-Opf erated switches for controlling multiple circuits, such as are used particularly onmotorvehicles in connection with electric lighting 5 and ignition circuits. In such switches compactness, simplicity and low cost are essentlal, and in addition it is desirable, as 1n all switches, to use rubbing engagement between the contact-members, to avoidline or polnt l contacts, and to avoid engagement between the moving contact-members and the insulat ing material by which the lstationary contactmelnbers are supported. y

The objectof the present invention 1s to l produce a switch having the foregoing advantages, and the invention consists in the switch illustrated in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described as it is defined in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side-elevation of a switch embodying the present invention, shown partly in section-on the line 1-1 in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a sectlon on the line X-X 1n Fig'l, looking from 75 right to left. Fig. 3 is a section on the same line, looking from left to right. Fig. 4 1s a rear-view of the switch, and Fig. 5 is an i enlarged detail view, partly in section, of one of the sliding contact-members.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a switch adapted to control thelighting circuits and the ignition circuits of a motorvehicle. The stationary contact-members are mounted on a flat plate 5 of insulating maar terial, and this plate is fixed removably, by screws 6, to the rear of a metal housing 7 Concentric with the plate 5 is a contactmember 8, of generally circular form, and this contact-member is partially surrounded e by a circularly arranged series of detached contact-members designated by numbers 9 to inclusive. Two movable contact-members 16 and 17 cooperate with the .stationary contacts. These movable contacts are carried by an arm 18 of a' shape resembling a T, as shown in Fig. 3, and this arm is fixed to a stem 19 which turns in ai bearing in the front of the housing 7. A handle 20, integral with the stern, is accessible at the front of the housing .'-n for manual operation.

Each of the contacts 16 and 17 provides a l conductive connectionbetween the .contact4 8 and one or another of the contacts 9 to 15, according to the position of the arm 18. To a cause rapid o rsnap action of the Switch, and

the control of the ignition circuit a lock 23,

of the plunger type, is lixed inthe front of the housing 7 by means of a plate 24 secured to the housing by screws\25. The barrel 26 of this lock may be turned, in the usual manner,

by means of a key 27. To the inner end of the barrel is fixed a spring-arm 28 of sheet-metal,

and this arm carries, at its free end, a sliding contact-member 29fsimilar to members 16 and 17. The contact 29 cooperates with the central contact 8, and also with a fixed contactkmember 30. In the drawings, the contact 29 is shown in closed-circuit position, but when the ignition-circuit is to be opened the parts are turned to the left of the position of Fig. 3, so that the contact 29 leaves its engagement with the contact 8 and merely rests upon the slotted left-hand port-ion of contact 30.

In order to give the ignition-switch a snap action, a plate 31 is interposed between 'the lock-,barrel and the spring-arm 28, and is provided with two perforations or recesses adapted. to engage, alternately, a spring-pressed ball 32 movable in a recess in the lock-barrel, as shown in Fig. 1.

Since the stationary contact-members are flat and are arranged all in a single plane, the movable contactunembers may rest squarely against them, thus giving an extended surface engagement, and they may also slide smoothly from one to' another of the stationary members. To simplify the insulation of the movable members of the switch, each movable contact-member is made i' as shown particularly in Fig. 5. A disc 33,

; of Conductive sheet-metal, is flanged or locked over` the edge of adisc 34 of insulating matestud is slightly upset or headed at 36, but 119i ting movein such a manner as to bind or tix the disc in place. The conductive disc 33 is centrally perforated to clear the end of the stud.

Owing to the freedom of the contact-member on its stud it may rotate more or less, when moving over the lixed contact-members, so that the wear upon the parts is distributed and they tend to preserve smooth and flat surfaces having full engagement over their projected areas.

Any or all ot the contacts 9 to 15, inclusive, may be connected with suitable circuits, but in the switch illustrated the contacts 9, 1l and 13 are dead, that is to say, they are not connected, but serve as intermediaries upon which the movable contacts may rest or may slide freely in passing from one to another of the stationary contacts. The live Contacts are connected with terminals at the back ofv the switch. The contact 8 is secured in place by two rivets 37, and these connect it with a terminal 38 which may conveniently be connected with a battery. The dead contactmembers are similarly secured by rivets which engage the plates 39 at the .back of the switch. The live contacts 10, 12, 14 and 15 are connected with terminals 40, 41, 42 and 43, which may be connected with thevarious lighting circuits of the vehicle on which the switch is used. y The terminals 42 and 43 may also be connected together by a resistance-device 44, to provide for dimming the lights'in one position of the switch. The contact-member 12 is made of twice the width of the other stationary contact-members, and this member is designedfo'r connection with a tail-lamp, the arrangement being such that the tail-lamp is lighted in all positions of the switch except the olli position shown in Fig; 3. It should be noted that in Fig. 3 the switch is shown with all of the lighting circuits open, whercas in Figs. l and 2 the parts are shown in one of the on positions.

It may be observed that all of the contacts are made to permit of a sliding operation which tends to keep the contact-surfaces bright; that the moving contact-members never engage the insulation by which the stationary members are supported and insulated: that no current passes through the springarms 18 and 28 by which engagement is maintained between the contact-members; and that, owing to the use of the insulating discs 34, no other insulation is required ot the moving parts of the switch.

lVhilc the invention has been described as embodied in a switch for a particular purpose, and with a particular arrangement of liveand dead contact-members, it will be obvious that it may be useful for various other purposes and in various embodiments. The uniform spacing ot the stationary contactmembers 9 to 15 inclusive, as illustrated, permits a ready rearrangement. otl the members and ot' their connections without any other modification in the structure of the switch.

The invention claimed is:

1. A. switch comprising: inner and outer concentric, circula.rly-arranged, stationary contacts lying substantially in one plane, with a space between the inner' and outer contacts: two movable contacts each arranged to engage, in each operative position, an inner and an outer stationary contact so as to interconnect them; and means, movable concentrically with the stationary contacts, for moving the movable contacts and pressing them against the stationary contact, said means having the form oi a resilient substantially T-shaped arm of sheet metal carrying the movable contacts at its respective ends.

2. A switch comprising: a plurality of stationary flat contacts lying substantially in a single plane; a movable contact in the form of a circular disc; an insulating member secured at the back of said disc; and resilient means, loosely pivoted to the center of the insulating member, for actuating the movable Contact and for pressing it against the stationary contacts.

3. A switch, as del'ined in claim 2, in which said insulating member is a Hat disc, secured to the movable contact by turning the edges ot the latter over the edges of the insulating member.

FABNUM F. DORSEY. 

